Backup user passwords for Windows users in USB

A little known feature in Windows is that you can creat a password recovery USB.

Creating that recovery USB is pretty easy: just log in as a Windows system administrator. In Windows control panel pick the option User accounts.

Select the Windows user for whom you want to create the USB for password recovery. Among the options of this user, in the left area, under the Related tasks area, there is an option about Preventing to forget passwords.

When clicking that password forget prevention fature, a new dialog will appear to pick a password recovery disc in an USB key. (Well, you could use even a diskette for password recovery, but it isn't worth in these times...).

By selecting that option, the recovery passwords will be stored in the root of the USB as an encrypted text file. This safe file stores Windows passwords in a safe way, and it can only be accessed in the same Windows computer in which it was created (if no other password recovery USB is created using this same method).

So this is a way to create an USB for each user, as a system to recover Windows user passwords for each user.

How to store many Windows password recovery files in the same USB

Since the password recovery file created always has the same filename (it is called userkey.psw), you will need a different USB key for each user, in each Windows computer.

To solve this and have several user passwords stored in a single backup USB, you just need to rename the password file created (for example, to user0001.psw) and so on with the next password files that we create. Remember to organize them in a meaningful way to prevent forgetting the user and Windows associated to each password backup file.

After this, to recover Windows user passwords you just need to rename the proper backup file in your USB to userkey.psw, and using the USB key with such standard filename in its root.

Javascript vulnerability in Adobe Reader

A recent javascript vulnerability has been discovered in Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat. This public and confirmed Adobe bug would allow running malicious javascript code just by opening a PDF document. So yes, you computer could be infected by a virus or trojan if you open a PDF file using Adobe Acrobat or Reader.

The bad news are that this malicious javascript code is hard to detect inside a PDF file, so most antivirus software won't be able to prevent the exploit by scanning PDF files. On top of that, Adobe won't be releasing a patch for this bug till January 2010, so the PDF readers would be vulnerable to exploits and so on.

But there are still good news: just disable JavaScript in Adobe Reader to prevent this exploit. That simple trick will keep your computer safe from virus and malware in PDF files.

How to disable javascript in Adobe Reader

Disabling Javascript in Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat is very simple. Just select the Edit >Preferences menu, and click the JavaScript option. Then just uncheck the Enable Acrobat Javascript box at the top.

And that's it: unchecking this option as in the image above will prevent the malicious Javascript code from exploiting this recent vulnerability of Adobe Reader.

Say "No to all" in Windows XP

When copying lots of files, maybe you have missed having a button like the "Yes to all" version, which copies and overwrites everything. Maybe you wanted to say "No to all" when you only wanted to add the new files (without overwriting old files), and without having to click a lot of times during a massive copy of files.

Even when such "No to all" button doesn't exist, there is a way to avoid such overwhelming amount of clicks:

Inside such Windows dialog, when you press the n key, it is equivalent to clicking the no button. We have just to keep pressed the n key during the copy. Having this key pressed during the copy is equivalent to clicking the "No" button in all the confirmation dialogs that appear. But you won't need to point and click on any button. That way, we won't have to maim our poor mouse by clicking it again and again.